St. Augustine Church gives the glory to God in centennial celebration  ​​​​​​​

 
A spirit-filled Mass with gospel music and vibrant worship and concelebrated by several bishops, including a native son of New Roads, marked the one-hundredth anniversary of St. Augustine Catholic Church just before Christmas last month.  

Bishop Emeritus John Huston Ricard, SSJ, now superior general of the Josephite order that established St. Augustine, returned home, and joined Archbishop Shelton Fabre of the Diocese of Louisville, Bishop Michael G. Duca of Baton Rouge, and pastor Joseph Benjamin, SSJ, in commemorating the history and fruits of faith in the area.
 
“The parish was built 100 years ago,” said Bishop Ricard, who served as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Baltimore from 1984 to 1997 and then Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahasee from 1997 to 2011 before being named the national leader of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (SSJ) in 2019. “What is evident is people understood there was a need for a church because the church is a place people can come and hear about Christ.” 



(Top Right): Clergy, those assisting the celebrants at the altar, and the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver gathered for a picture to celebrate a milestone in history when St. Augustine Church in New Roads celebrated its 100th anniversary celebration. Photos by Debbie Shelley | The Catholic Commentator 
(Above Photo): Attendees clapped and raised their hands in worship.

Bishop Ricard traced the birth of St. Augustine and its many vocations to Jesus’ early ministry when he went from village to village speaking moving and inspiring words that people had not heard before and performing great deeds.
“Wherever he went, they followed him in great numbers, soaking in every word. They were pierced to the heart and the marrow,” he said. 

Then, the bishop highlighted St. John’s Gospel, where Jesus told the apostles they would do greater things than him, causing the apostles to wonder how this would come about.  

“And then it happened, the great feast of Pentecost,” Bishop Ricard said. “The fire of the Holy Spirit came down … All their preconceived notions, their failures, their guilt was burned out and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and were able to go to the whole world and preach the good news of Jesus Christ.”  


Bishop  Emeritus John Ricard, SSJ, talks about the fire of the Holy Spirit inspiring the Josephites and people to establish St.  St. Augustine.

In the same way “the Holy Spirit empowered people here in New Roads to build a church. They were mostly civil farmers with little money but a lot of enthusiasm and faith,” he said. “And they had no idea this church would still be here in 100 years.” 

Near the conclusion of Mass, Archbishop Fabre highlighted the second reading of the day from 1 Thess 5:16-24, in which St. Paul wrote about the virtues of fidelity and gratitude evident in the St. Augustine community. Bishop Fabre, also a Louisiana native, said he hears about the fruits of St. Augustine Church today during his travels.  

“Some of our best parishioners have come from St. Augustine Church!” he said as the assembly erupted in thunderous applause. “I do know from my experiences in traveling that when the sons and daughters of St. Augustine have traveled to other places, the fidelity that this community has instilled in them is still with them. And having seen them and spoken to them, they are very fond of this faith community that nurtured our faith and taught them what it means to be faithful.” 


Bishop Shelton Fabre talks about the impact that St. Augustine has made on people around the country. 
 
The archbishop and Bishop Ricard encouraged the faithful to “not let the fire go out, let the fire burn brightly.” 

Continuing the theme of fire of the Holy Spirit in his final comments, Bishop Duca noted that as a Boy Scout he learned that fires are hard to start, and a fire started with one log doesn’t last long. It takes two, or better three – built in the form of a triangle. In the middle of these logs, the fire grows and builds up heat. 

“I thought of Jesus, who said where two or three are gathered in my name I am there,” said Bishop Duca. “And I think of Christ and the Trinity – Father, Son and Spirit. That’s what I appreciate about a community like this.” 

Like the fire logs, Bishop Duca said, a fire burns brighter when people are in communion with one another.  

“We can build that fire brighter the more we are together, touching one another in community and the community to the Lord,” he added. “I pray that that you keep that fire burning because it burns bright here, not just with numbers, but with the spirit. May God give you many years together and may you continue to prosper for another 100 years.” 

 
The Josephite Order, which has a long history with St. Augustine, founded St. Augustine in 1922. Father Edward Hartnett, SSJ, was the first pastor of the church, which was temporarily housed in the old Simeon Parent General Store near the defunct Texas and Pacific Depot, according to St. Augustine archive records. 

Parishioners of St. Mary of False River in New Roads donated a portion of their church-owned property for the building of St. Augustine in August 1922. In 1923, St. Augustine’s parishioners gave much of their limited time and resources to build a new church, which Barbay Construction Company built at a cost of $8,900.  
The first Mass in the new church was celebrated on Christmas Eve, 1923. The church was dedicated on May 23, 1924, when 195 boys and 115 girls received the sacrament of confirmation. 

In 1931, a school was built. Lay people taught there until 1951, when the Holy Spirit Missionary sisters served the needs of the school of more than 400 students. Grades were added each year until a high school was established. The high school merged with Catholic High School of Pointe Coupee in 1971, but the elementary school continued to operate until 1979.  

The Josephite’s work fostered a harvest of local priests from St. Augustine: Father Joseph Rodney, SSJ, and Father Samuel Daisy,  SSJ, both deceased, who were both ordained on May 25, 1968; Father Cyprian Devold (deceased), who was Benedictine, ordained in May 1984; Father John Gauthier, ordained in December 1966; Father John Ricard SSJ, superior general of the Josephites, who was born in New Roads; and Bishop Shelton Fabre, who served in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux before named the archbishop of the Diocese of Louisville, Kentucky, on February 8, 2022.  Archbishop Fabre was also appointed as apostolic administrator for the Diocese in Knoxville, Tennessee, in June 2023.   

Several women religious vocations came from St. Augustine as well.